Heaviest air strikes yet hit capital

Dozens of air strikes hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday, in what residents described as the heaviest aerial attacks there in nine months of war, days after a Saudi-led coalition trying to restore a Saudi-backed government ended a fragile ceasefire.

The strikes pounded the presidential palace and a mountain military base to the south of the city, causing children and teachers in several schools to flee for their lives.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Muslim allies has been fighting the Shia Houthi movement, which controls the capital.

While Riyadh sees the Houthis as a proxy for Iran, Saudi Arabia's bitter regional rival, to expand its influence, the Houthis deny this and say they are fighting a revolution against a corrupt government and Gulf Arab powers beholden to the West.

Almost 6,000 people have died in the conflict, nearly half of them civilians. United Nations-backed peace talks have yet to produce any substantial progress.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL EXPELLED

Yemen has declared the leading UN rights official in the country "persona non grata", the UN spokesman said yesterday, describing the decision as "an extremely regrettable development."

George Abu al-Zulof, the head of the UN human rights office in Yemen, "has been doing an excellent job," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The decision came just days after the United Nations raised alarm over the use of cluster bombs by the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government in its war against Shia rebels.